


DarkForceOne

by rudbeckia



Series: Spookylux Huxloween 2018 [19]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Temptation, benarmie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-02 03:59:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16297748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Huxloween day 19: Trapped soulsFirst Order has been developing a virtual reality game as part of Hux’s private military training programme. Hux releases a trial copy as a first person shooter game to a group of beta testers under a different brand name and joins in to see their reactions. Unknown to him, Ben is one of the beta testers. Hux and Ben (or, rather, their online personas) team up to beat the others but they end up trapped in a side quest with no apparent exit.





	DarkForceOne

The faces around the beechwood and chrome conference table looked at Hux expectantly. He frowned back into the space in front of him where a VR headset rested on a stand. He sighed. “I agree based on reports that the virtual training facility is ready for beta testing.”  
Relief was evident in the faces of the development team. Mitaka smiled and picked up Hux’s headset. “Why don’t you try it?” he said. “It’s really good. I designed one of the characters myself and wrote two of the side quests.”  
From across the table, Sloane laughed. Hux smiled but ignored her. “I am not a gamer,” he told Mitaka. “And this is not a game. Better if I leave testing to the professionals.”  
“I think it’s a good idea,” Sloane said, leaning forward. “Don’t you want to get player reactions first hand?”  
Hux shot Sloane a warning glare. “I do not have time to play games,” he declared. Sloane laughed again.  
“You said it’s a virtual training facility, not a game. Put it down as a quality control exercise.” She donned her own headset. “I have to say these cityscapes are very realistically rendered, and the choice of weaponry is very advanced once you get promoted enough. I had a very pleasant afternoon exploring Paris although I failed to assassinate the ambassador and capture the stolen datachip. Armitage, didn’t you say you wanted to get your hands on the codes for an ICBM launch facility so that you could make the entire world do your bidding?”  
“Yes, a real one. Not a computer generated facsimile,” Hux snapped.  
“Well,” Sloane slid her headset off again and fixed her brown eyes on Hux. “Until you finish Starkiller this is the closest you’re gonna get.”  
Hux raised his lip in a snarl but Sloane merely smiled at him. “Item four,” he said, shaking off his irritation at his mentor. “What are we going to call the beta version?”  
“Oh!” Mitaka’s face lit up. We decided on _“Covert Commander._ We plan to release it under the _eVRygamer_ brand. It’s not directly linked to us and marketing is ready to run with that.”  
“Well then,” Hux smiled. “Let’s do it. Mitaka, you’re in charge of running the beta test.”  
“I am?” Mitaka grinned. “In that case I respectfully insist that you take part. We really do need your experience and expertise.”  
Sometimes, Hux firmly believed, giving in gracefully showed strength.

A week later, Hux opened a package on his desk and admired the sleek virtual reality headset inside. Another package contained a pair of gauntlets and four wireless devices to mark the “corners” of his new VR universe. He carried the lot, with his most powerful laptop, to a spare conference room that he had already had cleared of furniture. Opan assisted with the set up and soon Hux stood in the centre of the room, looking around himself with his mouth hanging open. He pushed the headset up over his forehead and regarded Opan. “This is incredible!” he said. “It’s like I am actually there. All that’s missing is weather.” He slipped the headset back on and laughed. “Please report to Mitaka that the next upgrade should include artificial weather.”

Hux navigated to the first mission and read the mission brief, laughing when it spontaneously combusted in front of him. He looked over his avatar—chosen to look so bland as to be instantly forgettable—and picked out weapons. It was an easy level designed to get the user accustomed to manipulating objects, moving around and interacting with other users. He ignored all the chatter from the development team, eliminated the target and collected the prize, which unlocked the next level. Hux whiled away an hour without even realising that time was passing in the real world until Opan appeared in front of him in virtual reality form. Hux sighed, saved his progress and took off his headset. Opan stood in front of him in actual reality too.  
“Clear my schedule for tomorrow, please, Opan.” He returned the headset and gauntlets to their stand to recharge. “I want to perform a thorough quality assurance check on this product.”  
“Yes, sir,” said Opan with a hint of a smile. “Should I inform Ben Solo that you will be unable to meet him for lunch and dinner tomorrow?”  
“No need,” Hux said. “He already texted me to say he’s busy with some project of his own all day tomorrow. Bring me my meals here tomorrow, please.”  
Opan nodded and left the room. Hux looked longingly at the headset, but turned away and went home.

It was all Hux could do not to lecture Ben on how great the top secret virtual training system was. Ben seemed to have something on his mind too and they ate together without saying much then watched a spy film and went to bed laughing and complaining about all the flaws in the plot. Ben pulled Hux into his arms. “I think if I was the hero, I’d want a partner to motivate me. I mean, if a successful mission got me a night in bed with a stunning redhead like—“  
“You don’t have to be an international spy for hire to get a night in bed with me,” said Hux. “My standards are pretty low, considering.”  
Ben laughed. He rolled over and pinned Hux to the mattress. Hux wriggled and squirmed entirely for pleasure rather than in an attempt to escape, and Ben kissed him.  
“Mmm, what’s your hurry, ginger? We have all night.”  
“You better have a very pleasant apology fuck planned for calling me ginger,” said Hux.  
”Mmhmm,” Ben said with a smile. “You know, with hair as beautiful as that you could tell me to do anything and I’d do it.”  
”Well then,” Hux said, grinning. “Prepare to receive orders.”

Next day, Hux could barely wait to get to work. As soon as he shrugged off his coat and said thank you for his tea, he headed to his temporary VR room so that he could continue testing the virtual training system. At nine the beta testers would all be expected to log in and give the programme a thorough trial. Hux checked over his avatar again, changed its hair colour from brown to dark auburn and gave it a name. Henceforth his character would be known as _SupremeLeader_ instead of _User000007._ As he progressed through a couple of easier levels just as a warm up, other users appeared in his space. A dark haired avatar called _ThanissonTheGreat_ winked out again as soon as it acknowledged his existence with a hand wave and a thumbs up. A strikingly tall blonde avatar named _QueenOfParnassos_ almost beat him to the prize in level eight but cursed audibly in a distorted walkie-talkie voice and said her hand had fallen off. By level fourteen, _SupremeLeader_ was the undisputed champion.

So it was with great surprise that Hux progressed onto level fifteen and found himself in a rainy urban back alley with a player already trying to find the weapons cache hinted at in a side quest accessed from level thirteen. Hux sent a synthesised voice message.  
“Well done, DarkForceOne! I bet the others didn’t see the side quest.”  
The reply came almost immediately.  
“Thanks, SupremeLeader. The NPC that unlocked it was a ginger cat. I always notice gingers.”  
Hux laughed and hoped the laugh was not transmitted. “I have a soft spot for ginger cats. Have you searched all the dumpsters?”  
“Only the last one to go. Hey, your avatar is a little bit ginger. Are you a ginger?”  
Hux turned. Behind them, three more users popped into his space. “Hey, Darkforce, want to team up?”  
“Okay, Supes!” DarkForceOne crouched and used a long electrowhip to take their competitors out at the knees while Hux’s avatar rummaged in the last dumpster. He emerged carrying an improbably large stun baton and used it to send the other users back to level ten. DarkForceOne cheered. Hux pointed it at him.  
“Only a ginger,” he said, “can call another ginger _ginger.”_ He took in the sight of DarkForceOne’s well muscled torso, bulging beneath a business suit, and dark wavy hair. “Are you compensating for something?”  
The avatar shook its head. “My boyfriend has not complained about my physical attributes,” he said. “Although he also hates being called ginger.”

Together, DarkForceOne and SupremeLeader progressed faster than either would have done alone. Hux asked DarkForceOne what he thought of the game and had to listen to a monologue that he switched off from once he realised he could record a transcript. On level twenty-three, the ginger cat came back and rubbed on their legs.  
“Side quest?” said DarkForceOne.  
“Why not,” said SupremeLeader. “We must be at least three whole levels ahead of the crowd by now.  
Hux reached down. The position sensors in the four corner markers sensed where his gauntlet was and showed his avatar petting the cat. The cat walked away and they followed it into a fancy looking hotel.  
“I’m glad I chose the suit over the leather bandolier for my avatar,” said DarkForceOne. “I’d get thrown out.”  
Hux mentally stored the image of a dark haired, musclebound hero wearing just enough leather to preserve modesty. He imagined Ben in leather, and reddened as he felt his cock fill out at the very idea. “Welcome to Hotel California,” said a bright, breezy voice as a pretty face beamed at them and solved Hux’s incipient problem. “You room is ready for you.”  
Hux realised there was a key in his avatar’s hand. DarkForceOne also had a key. They compared.  
“Huh. Same room number. That needs fixing,” said Hux. “Can’t have your virtual self going up to a hotel room with another ginger, can we?”  
“Hah!” replied DarkForceOne. “So you ARE ginger!”  
“Shut up,” said Hux. “Good thing this is VR and you’re probably thousands of miles away or I’d kick your arse.”

They ignored the hesitant, soft-spoken bellhop. Setting foot in the elevator automatically took them into the hotel room. Hux immediately started searching it for weapons and hints but he found nothing. When he looked for DarkForceOne to ask if he had had any more luck, he almost choked. DarkForceOne was wearing a leather strap diagonally across his broad (and otherwise very naked) chest, tight ragged denim cutoffs and a smile.  
“Put your suit back on!” said Hux.  
“I could feel you thinking about the leather,” said DarkForceOne. “Go on, make your hair brighter.”  
“Stop flirting,” Hux said. “You have a boyfriend and so do I.” But he called up the options and made his hair bright strawberry blond. DarkForceOne bowed.  
“Beautiful. I’d do anything you wanted, if you really looked like that. I envy your boyfriend.”  
“Well then, be sure to tell your own boyfriend that,” said Hux. “Find whatever macguffin we’re here for and then find us a way back to the game.”  
DarkForceOne seemed to freeze for a couple of seconds, then searched the room too and found nothing. Not even a door to get out.

After the fourth time they had searched the furniture, the third time they had felt every crack and cranny in the walls for hidden doors, the second time they had moved the bed and rolled back the rug in case there was a trap door and, finally, the first time they had tried banging on the walls and yelling, SupremeLeader and DarkForceOne stood looking at one another.  
“Do you think it’s a bug?” asked DarkForceOne.  
“No,” said Hux, thinking hard over their gameplay. “I think we missed an NPC. I think the bellhop was important.”  
“There was a bellhop?” said DarkForceOne. “I didn’t notice.”  
“I expect most people probably don’t.” Hux sighed. “I may even know who he’s based on. We’re probably stuck here until the game decides to let us out, or we reset the level.”  
“The reset command is disabled,” said DarkFoceOne. ”It was the first thing I tried after the first search didn’t show anything.”  
Hux glared but thankfully his avatar retained a neutral face. “So you gave up right at the start?” Hux clenched his fists and his avatar got ready for a punch-up. He forced his hands to relax. “Why didn’t you just take your headset off and start again?”  
“I liked the company,” said DarkForceOne. “I like you.”  
“You have a boyfriend.”  
“So do you, but you must like me too or you would have quit the game and started over too.” Hux was silent. DarkForceOne waved. “Hey is it really cheating if we’re actually thousands of miles apart?”  
Hux closed his eyes and nodded. “I would say so. If my boyfriend said he’d been flirting online with someone, I’d be hurt. Goodbye.”  
Hux raised his hands to his headset and pulled it off.  
A few miles away, so did Ben.

Hux frowned at his phone. Ben never called him at work these days.  
“Hello?”  
_”Hi honeybee. Sorry to disturb you if you’re busy.”_  
“Um, no. In fact I just finished something. Is everything okay?”  
_”Yes! More than okay. I love you. Want to get dinner tonight?”_  
“Huh? I. Um. S’pose. I. Love you. Too. Yes, dinner. That new Bangladeshi place?”  
_”Sure! Seven?”_  
“See you there. Um?”  
_”Yeah?”_  
“Have you ever worn leather?”


End file.
